JUMP! will offer customers a chance to upgrade to a device twice every 12 months, not just once every two years. Existing customers can get the same phone prices as new customers and trade-in their old phone when you upgrade.

So how does it work?

Buy a new smartphone on a Simple Choice Plan using our Equipment Installment Program.

Enroll in JUMP! for $10 a month when you add Services to your order.

Upgrade as soon as six months after enrollment.

Trade in your phone each time you upgrade so you can get the same great price as new customers for new phones.

David, when can I “JUMP!” on this? How about July 14th for just $10 per month.

JUMP! from T-Mobile is designed to provide customers with total protection for one of their prized possessions: their smartphones. It offers the freedom to upgrade to a new device more affordably and protects against malfunction, damage, loss or theft — all for just $10 per month, per phone (plus taxes and fees). That’s just $2 more than most customers have been paying for handset protection alone.

Beginning Sunday, July 14, customers can choose to upgrade when they want, not when they’re told with JUMP! Here’s how it works: Customers can upgrade to a new phone, financed through T-Mobile’s Equipment Installment Program (EIP), twice every 12 months after they’ve been in the JUMP! program for six months. Simply trade in an eligible T-Mobile phone in good working condition at a participating store location. Any remaining EIP payments will be eliminated, and current customers can purchase new phones for the same upfront pricing as new customers, with device financing and Simple Choice Plan, a no-annual-service contract. With JUMP!, current customers never pay more for their new phones than new customers.

About David Beren

David is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TmoNews.com. He considers himself a Jedi Knight, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound and a connoisseur of fine cell phones. He has been involved in the wireless industry since 2003 and has been known to swap out phones far too many times in any given year. Should you wish to contact him, you can do so: david@tmonews.com.

What an idiotic idea. I rather pay for the entire phone then pay 120 a year to finance. Putting the entire charge on a credit card would be cheaper then 10 bucks a month o_0

And trade in my old phone so they give me $200 for a $600 phone? right lol

ChitChatCat

You don’t have to enroll in JUMP! and you can still finance your phone for 0% APR.

TechHog

What an idiotic comment.

Patrick

umm…why not just invest the $10/mo in somewhere else, and when you want to upgrade, use that money to put into a new phone? With JUMP it seems like it’s just another revenue generator. How much of a price difference is it between new and exsisting customers? Say you upgrade every year = $120, and the latest phone is $600. So if you use the money you just saved, you would be $480 in the hole, rather than $720 in the whole…sounds good no paper, but in the real world….

TechHog

You’re ignoring the fact that you also get insurance, which would be $8 or $12 alone. In that case, you’re either paying $24 a year extra or saving $24 a year.

thepanttherlady

Bingo!

Ben

So, as someone who is already paying $11.99/mo for PHP will I be automatically enrolled in Jump or will I have to ask for it. If so is there any reason why I would want to stay with what I have?

thepanttherlady

You’ll have to enroll. One reason to join will be that you save $2 a month on your insurance. :)

Other than that it is purely how you want to handle purchasing your phones.

Ben

What I mean is, even if I’m not going to upgrade my phone until I’ve paid it off, and maybe even longer, it seems like I should join jump just to save $2/mo. Am I missing something?

Patrick

Ahh, I missed that part…JUMP is basically part of the insurance too….I still don’t buy insurance, but I’ll have to take a look into it.

Saad Akhtar

Question, if you have jump does that mean you have to upgrade your phone every 6 months, or does it just give you the option? I’d like to buy an iphone in september and get the new one the september after that, so if I wanted to, could I just do that?

TechHog

They can’t force you to upgrade lol.

corepreacher

Yes it’s called JUMP because you can jump into a new phone whenever you want to. You will still pay the $10 a month for 12 month if you decide to do that

an0nim0

Not quite “whenever you want to…”

“Customers can upgrade to a new phone… twice every 12 months after they’ve been in the JUMP! program for six months.”

So you have to have paid at least $60 into the program before you qualify for an upgrade, but there’s nothing that says you have to pay more than $60; if I didn’t intend to upgrade every 6 months (and didn’t care for the insurance), I’d just drop out of the JUMP! program as soon as I upgraded, than wait until 6 months before I intended to upgrade again to JUMP! back in… of course, it’s still less cost-effective to wait longer than 6 months as you’re still paying the EIP for every month you have the phone, so that’s less money wiped off the slate with the trade-in.

t-mo rep

yes

t-mo rep

yes to the last question that is

jd

I assume you have to pay the down payment every time you upgrade? If not, that’s a pretty great deal. Otherwise, I guess you’re just paying to avoid the hassle of ebaying your phone.

LC

You still pay the down payment, but any remaining balance of the phone’s installment are paid off.

SeungMin Cho

Just a quick question. When you trade your phone in, does it have to be in a perfect condition, I have minor scratch on the screen rim of the GS4. Would they refuse to trade in the phone? :(

corepreacher

If it is a hairline crack then they will refuse the trade in or you could pay the deductible + new down payment and still get the phone and keep your old phone and have its EIP wiped away.

If the screen is scratched, but NOT cracked then it will be eligible for trade and you just pay the new down payment

SeungMin Cho

what do you mean by a hairline crack??

corepreacher

Hairline crack is a very thin crack that extends the length of the phone and is usually visible at different angles. This is a break in the glass verses a scratch. Think about the lines that extend from a winshield point of impact crack but for phones

thepanttherlady

Small crack versus a scratch. If it’s cracked no matter how big or small they won’t take it.

SeungMin Cho

Ahhhh it was a terrible mistake not putting on my case…
Do you know by any chance the deducible for replacing the phone??

ChitChatCat

The deductible on the S4 is $175.

kalel33

Holy crap! It’s much cheaper to just have extended warranty and send it in as a warranty replacement, not telling them the damage, and getting hit with the OOW fee, plus saving a bunch of money per month.

Jimbo Jones

So I get to pay an extra $240 a year to continue buying phones at full price? Amazing! I’m sure all the TMo reps in here will gush about what a great deal this is.
Then puzzle when that bump in sales which is surely coming never materializes. Keep spinning and rebranding, but you’re not winning many new converts.

Jimbo Jones

Funnily enough, the GS4 and HTC One are no longer front paged on the t-mobile.com site, but rather the “$19.99 down” GSIII.

samboltski

If you were on the T-Mobile website, you would’ve noticed the HTC one was 99.99 down and $20×24 mos for a combined 580.00. The phone out right is 579.99. And to trade it in every 6 mos is, like leasing a car concept…

bt

Hey you go ahead and pay an extra $400 a year for VZ or big blue plus the extra money in year two after your phone is paid off. There’s plenty of us converts that will keep our money and spend it on something else.

Oh and we’ll have a newer phone than your 2 year old phone.

Jimbo Jones

You can’t claim “extra $400″ now that you’re charging an “extra $240″ to be part of your club. I’m sure you and the other reps find these arguments utterly convincing but you see any new customers gagging to spend $600 on a phone? Didn’t think so.

bt

I’m not a rep. I’m just not an idiot who doesn’t realize that you are paying more in the subsidized world than they way tmobile is doing it. You go ahead and believe your phone doesn’t cost more with the big 3 because of your subsidized (hidden) costs that continue even after you’ve realized the actual cost of the phone. Don’t be so short sided. Look at the 24 month total costs of each and tmobile wins almost every time. Even look at normal monthly costs and they still win.

mikkej2k

You don’t have to “be part of the club”. It’s voluntary. How much is 1 line at VZW? With insurance on the device?

TMOTECH

Last time I checked 10*12 is 120. And it includes handset protection as well.

TechHog

You’re bad at math. You’re also ignoring the insurance part, but since you’re so bad at 2nd grade math I wouldn’t be shocked if you actually did consider that.

Bob Archer

I’m not sure what you are saying. With any carrier you are basically paying full price for the subsidized phone. So, if you want t-mo to be the same as Verizon, just wait 2 years to get your new phone. AS someone else said, this is not for everyone. IF it doesn’t work for you, don’t use it.

corepreacher

What is the opinion of TMO News of this this new program?

steveb944

Hmm considering I’m an outlier with my Play Store Nexus 4, this deal breaks the bank.

I wish it was an actual leasing program instead of separating into an EIP and Jump fee. Bottom line is T-Mobile is a business, and they’re in this program to make money in comparison to you buying and selling yourself.

Bob Archer

If you bought your own phone outright from Google Play, then JUMP doesn’t apply to you and you won’t pay it. So, how does it “break the bank”?

steveb944

It was just a little tidbit, I’m comparing overall cost. The ~$350 I paid for the device I think still comes out less rather than going with a device on JUMP ~$280 in 6 mo. with no final ownership. If the Nexus program continues with subsidization by Google, then that is still a more viable option to save money in my phone purchasing. If for some reason it doesn’t go on, I’ll keep JUMP as a future option.

Another issue is OS updates which is what would make me want to change devices to get them sooner/at all, that is moot with Nexus.

jon

Essentially this is just another option for customers that want to get new phones it obviously wont work for everyone. Going based one what im reading the $10 has the insurance included. Which i honestly dont believe until they tell us officially in our meetings. But going by how phones are being released new phones are usually released in the first quarter and third quarter of the year. And going by the math and this is just basing it off the interpretation of the article up top if the insurance is included in the $10. If a customer was to get a Note 2 right now.6 month span: The phone would be 169.99+41.27(taxes)+60(jump)+120(EIP)=391.26. Remaining balance would be 360 on the phone. So essentially if you did it in the 6 month period you would be saving yourself 300 off the full price of the phone because they would wipe your old eip with the trade in.(Calc: 691.26(Full price w/taxes) – 391.26 = 300) Now if you did it over a 1 year span the savings drastically drops. you end up paying 571.26 for the phone and save only $120 of the full price of the phone. So i mean there are many ways to look at it but im still waiting for the final word of how this will actually work and whats included in the $10. THIS WHOLE CALCULATION IS BASED ON THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ARTICLE ABOVE!!!! :D hopefully this helped someone out there.

ChitChatCat

Check the training. It’s included.

Jon

didnt get it yet meeting is on sun -_- at 8am!!!!!!! AHHHHHH

TechHog

Then why not check the damn website? lol. You seem overly cynical.

Jon

what do you mean? ive been looking at the site i just dont like to say anything until ive been told officially by manager cuz i dont want to be wrong and give the wrong info

Jason Anthony Pineiro

Too bad that doesnt apply for the Puerto Rico market

Mike

If you upgrade once a year and are currently paying $12/mo. for your insurance, JUMP only costs about $24/year more than paying in full and reselling. JUMP eliminates the hassle of reselling and the risk of a big drop in resale value. See my math in an earlier comment.

ChitChatCat

And seller fees if you don’t want to get involved in parking lot transactions and sell it on ebay.

ninjakick

So are we for sure that another down payment will be required for the jump…and is the 10 dollar jump fee different from insurance or are they one in the same…I would like a clarification because if they are not requiring another down payment and just carrying over the debt….it would be a pretty good deal…

Mike

It’s basically like buying a new phone but the debt on your old phone is forgiven when you trade it in.

Jon

essentially from what your seeing in the article above the $10 is a flat fee for jump program and insurance combined. after 6 months of enrollment you can trade in your old phone and wipe out the rest of your old eip and then put and brand new down payment and eip plan on a new one. Phone must be in good condition if not then you have to pay the deductible of the phone also.

samboltski

I called 611 twice and both reps from the upgrade department and, they told me, if the remaining balance of your current eip amount due covers the down payment of the phone you have your eye on, there will be no down payment. The only thing you would have to come out of pocket on that particular circumstance is, taxes. I spent about 30 minutes apiece with each rep.

jon

That’s not true idk where they are getting their info what happens on jump is pretty much after 6 months if a customer wants a new phone they can trade I’m their ccurrent phone and tmobile will wipe away the rremaining eIP of the old device and you start a new eip for the new ddevice. Depending on the ddevice there may or may not be a down payment.

truckeemike

So, once again those of us not yet on Simple Choice, who currently have huge ‘migration fees with family plans…… are we in, or is that migration fee still required? David???

jon

as of right now migration fees are still required until heard otherwise im sorry :(

truckeemike

Thx for reply. If they want to stop churn….. shame on them. And ok you guys don’t give me the you got a discoiunt argument, it no longer counts!!!!!!!

Jon

yea the whole classic to BTV to Value is pretty hectic sometimes and i get alot of frustated customers about it. because they see customers with there bills substantially cheaper than theres with no contract and theyve been with us for years and are getting the shit end of the stick. so i completely understand

kalel33

It does if you didn’t fulfill your contract. Hey, I’d like to have gotten a phone dirt cheap and then move to the cheaper plan with no penalty, while everyone else had to buy the phones at full price but somehow they’re trying to be fair……huh, who knew?

truckeemike

FULL PRICE???? 6 months… you pay less than I did. Exactly my point.!

truckeemike

smart ass

kalel33

If you only have 6 months remaining on your contact then pay the $50 per line migration fee and quit being a cheapskate.

CalicoKJ

Migration fees end when the phone has <6 months of time remaining before upgrade. For example, I can't cancel any of my 5 lines until October (if I wanted to) because of contract, but my last phone hit <6 months before it was upgrade eligible last month. I switched at that time to Simple Choice, with no migration fees. Yes, it can be confusing, but any phone or store rep should be able to tell you what that magical date is for each line on your plan.I had a line on what was called "Bridge to Value" before I was eligible to switch my plan. It allowed me to do the down payment/EIP for that line without extending my contract any further..

http://knightofscorpio.tumblr.com/ DtheArtist

I’m slow, lol. Please somebody explain this in the SLOWEST way possible. Like basically math equation terminology (though Math is my best subject, I’m kinda confused about the cost). I wish it was explained more in T-Mobile’s statement above. So I already have insurance (which has been bumped up to like $12 now, for my HTC One). So I would do something like, let’s say I purchased a HTC One now. I would pay the up front cost, $20 per month on installments (for 6 months?), $10 per month (for the jump service), and the added $12 for the insurance I have, am I right? Then after 6 months, I can trade in my device, and it will AUTOMATICALLY rid the rest of my EIP? Am I right. And I may do this if so, tho it is a bit much, but the hassle with selling phones, even tho u have many options (Swappa, Glyde whom I just discovered, ebay), it’s kinda stressful thinking about how long it takes, satisfying the buyer, making sure it’s not returned, etc. Because that’s pretty much what I do anyway. I buy a phone, I keep it for about 6 months (which is a long time for me sometimes, lol. HTC One S was the 1st phone I kept for like a full year in the past 7 years or so), then I sell my phone to pay off the remained of the EIP and sometimes I have to come like a extra $100 out of pocket or so.

THANK YOU! That makes sense to me. So could I technically when it starts, cut off my insurance now, and just pay for JUMP since it includes insurances? Yes, you kinda said that at the end, but I just saw that. lol

ChitChatCat

Don’t cancel your insurance. Just call in or stop by a store after Sunday. I’d probably give it a few days so that everyone is familiar with the processes.

jon

You can only enroll in jump with a new activation or upgrade of phone

thepanttherlady

Customers with current EIP’s can also enroll.

jon

really that’s not what the training said unless i missed that part. pretty much it said it followed the policies of adding insurance but I may have overlooked that part I’ll check again :)

so… my manager says that any customer with a eip already intact the only way they would qualify to add jump is if they receive a new device from tmobile through warranty exchange or they have it as a quickview offer otherwise they are unable to switch. so other than the quikview offer its the same policy as regular insurance. So they would have to have EIP currently AND receive a new phone from tmobile (example warranty exchange) OR its given to them thru a quikview offer

thepanttherlady

I don’t know what “quickview offer” is but my daughter bought her iPhone 5 with EIP on 5/4/13. When I logged into her account last night the option to put her on the JUMP program was there under services. I switched her with no problems, warranty exchange etc.

I’m surprised some of your used phones didn’t make back enough to pay off the balance on it. I was trying to calculate this on some of the phones out now and looks like going the Ebay way you would come out like $40 or so ahead vs JUMP! But there are a lot of variables to consider when calculating what you’ll get for a used phone.

ssjassassin

Your insurance would be replaced with the $10 plan and you will not pay $12 a month anymore. This would require an upgrade or new phone purchase on EIP. T-Mobile will continue to carry the old asurion plans that you have now until customers who have current EIP plans out can change by upgrade or other qualifying changes. Such as you will be eligible for the JUMP protection plan if you require a warranty replacement because you are getting a “new” phone. All new insurance plans as of july 14th are through assurant and will be $8 a month no more assurion. This means no more $8 insurance for mid range smarts and $12 for high end so easy streamlined costs but deductible should remain the same higher for higher cost phones. Then the additional cost of $2 puts you into JUMP plans and you have the choice to upgrade by trade in super cool.

Here is math:

$100 down for htc one, $10 per month jump, $20 per month phone payment, 6 months in for upgrade:

100+(10*6)+(20*6)=$280

Not including bill taxes or retail sales tax on the phones.but if you include this it looks like another 50 – 60 depending on rates.

$280 + estimated taxes = $340

Remaining EIP at 6 months: $360

Randall Lind

Jump replaces insurance which allows you to upgrade twice a year if I choose too right? I get it now. However people like me who just got a new phone can’t sign up for jump. I just got the S4 and my insurance is like $12 as well.

UMA_Fan

Let’s say you set up an account bought an iPhone 5 for $99 down and 24 installments of $20.

You also subscribe to Jump.

Therefore when the iPhone 6 comes out next year all you pay is $99 down and your bill stays the same. The 24 installments of $20 simply reset themselves.

mikkej2k

Does this include ALL phones offered by T-Mobile , like Nexus 4? Or phones T-Mobile used
to carry , but are End-Of-Life like an OG Galaxy Note or HTC ONE S?

ChitChatCat

It seems to include any phone financed with EIP.

nerdlust

First I will say I really like my fully paid off note2. No plans to upgrade but this does sound like a nice option for those who switch phones often. The ability to upgrade every 6 months sounds sweet.

Impatient Waiter

I’m a little confused though… so for $10 a month for JUMP!, you get the same features that come with the $12 PHP bundle for the GS4? So does that mean PHP’s MRC lower its cost?

jon

yes 10 is insurance for all phones with jump

Sam Farias

On my spreadsheet an upgrade every 6 months averages to $46 a month if you assume $99 down payments and having to pay sales tax for the full price of the device each time. Anyone know of a painless backup solution for non root users? Transferring your apps, user data etc every month could get old.

Sam Farias

I think this does away with insurance rather than include it, or no? If the screen on a new phone breaks after 3 months, does insurance replace the phone with payment of a deductible or do I have to wait until my next 6 month Jump upgrade? A question for T mobile.
In my case I love having the latest and greatest but I’ve had a new phone every few months for the last couple of years through insurance or warranty of HTC phones. I’ve gone from a Sensation through two Amazes and two HTC One S’s.

jon

10 dollars iincludes the insurance so if you were to breal your phone a 3 month span you wwould still get it replaced thru iinsurance if you brone the phone at the 6 month start and wAnna upgrade you wwould have to pay the deductible and the down payment for thr next phone to do the jump.

Bklynman

Maybe I miss it,so I buy a new phone,put the down payment on it,let’s say $99. Plus,
$20,plus the $10.Jump fee. 6 months later,another super phone comes out to end all
super phones,now do I have to pay another down payment of $99? If I decide to
keep,the new super phone that came out 6 months later,does eip starts all over again?

6 Months later, the newer better super phone comes out and you want to get it:

Go in to the store, as long as your phone is in good working order (powers on, has no cracks on the screen, has no water damage) you can trade in your old super phone and have your remaining balance on that EIP waived, you then pay up a new $99.00 down payment on the new super phone, and then have a new EIP of $20.00 a month added to your account for the remainder of the price of said newer super phone. You walk out the store with a newer device.

After this, is you want to upgrade using the same scenario again, you don’t have to wait, you can do this all over again the next day if you want.

If you complete 2 of these in a year, then you will have to wait a full year (from the date the first upgrade was made) in order to upgrade again.

This is my understanding of the program. (if I am wrong, others will let me know)

Hope this helps.

thepanttherlady

Would love to meet the person who tried to do this again the next day so I could slap them upside the head! LOL

Bklynman

You promise Lady? ;-)

thepanttherlady

If you only knew how serious I am. :)

Bklynman

Woo,-Woo! I am in love! LoL! ;-)

http://knightofscorpio.tumblr.com/ DtheArtist

You explained it the best, thanks so much.

thepanttherlady

Yes. You give them the phone you bought 6 months earlier and they “forgive” the remaining EIP on it. Pay the down payment on your spiffy phone and start over.

Bklynman

Thanks Lady and Jose. Clear now. So if a person does this twice a yr.,
that would $318.00 out of pocket,most new super phones have bugs
for the first few months they are out. Since companies are pushing
out new phones almost every year now,since most phonese have a very
short eof now,I wonder if it is worth it.

JJCommonSense

So basically it’s really only 2 bucks more (or less for those of us that already have php)for the ability to upgrade more frequently… and if think about it you’re still laying less than attention or Verizon… plus it’s optional.. I see this as nothing but great to have the option.

shack180

Personally I like my phone paid off. But this is a great move since I change my phone alot.

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